Next time take the whole thing.

[Admiral Huddy]

Got back to Chelmsford station late yesterday afternoon to find that my bike had lost a bit of weight..

Both wheels, handle bar, seat, gear assembly and the plastic bit where your drinks go - all gone :(

Basically they left me just the frame.. I felt a right knob carry that home..

People where looking at my as to say "I bet he's nicked that" or "Why doesn't he ride it?" :D

[BBx]

The b***ers!!! :angry: Thats so awful Huddy!!! :(

BB x

[iCraig]

How pathetic. So annoying when people think they can just take someone else's stuff.

[SidewinderINC]

That f**king sucks! I've never had anything big like that stolen from me, just a pair of shoes once.

Is it covered by insurance?

I had to chuckle when I read "and the little plastic bit where your drinks go" though, just seems like if they were going to go through the trouble to remove that they might have taken the whole thing.

[Feek]

The crazy thing is that someone must have seen it happening, it must take a few minutes with some spanners to get that lot off :(

[killerkebab]

Jesus! No way can you totally dismantle a bike like that without getting noticed!

[Admiral Huddy]

Takes me about 40 minuts to dismantle that bike, which I do normally in the spring, so yes someone must have seen something but in all honesty, would anyone say anything? If I say kids or someone looking around at the bikes, I will say something. They normal scamper off pretty quick. The cycle plot during weekdays is locked between 9am and 5pm.

[killerkebab]

but in all honesty, would anyone say anything?Not at them because I don't fancy a confrontation, but I would probably report suspicious behaviour along the lines of someone taking a spanner to a bike in the middle of a cycle plot. Is it insured?

[Darrin]

Too bad I live so far away. I have more bicycle parts available than I could haul in my pickup truck. You could come and take what you needed for free. :(

[Admiral Huddy]

I'll pop round tonight then .. put kettle on :p

[Von Smallhausen]

It's a fair bet that it will be captured on camera Paul.

[Dymetrie]

It's a fair bet that it will be captured on camera Paul.

OI!

That's my line ;)

*Gives Huddy a hug*

*realises who he's hugging and runs off before he gets damaged*

:p

[Admiral Huddy]

It's a fair bet that it will be captured on camera Paul.

You would have thought so but we've been protesting for ages of the lack of cameras in the bike park area so it's a no go. In fact, Chelmsford station only had them installed a few years ago :(

OI!

That's my line ;)

*Gives Huddy a hug*

*realises who he's hugging and runs off before he gets damaged*

:p


Come back biatch :evil:

[Jhadur]

Sorry to hear about the bike Huddy. :(

My friend Dale knew someone that had the same thing happen to his
GSXR 600 that was locked to railing outside his house.
Came down in the morning to go to work and found just the frame.
They'd completely dismantled the entire bike and taken the lot.

[Treefrog]

Damn! That sucks :angry:

It's for that reason that I put the lock through both wheels as well as the frame, and I'm seriously thinking about replacing the QR seatclamp with a plain bolted one.

Edit: Just a thought, but is your employer in the Ride to Work (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Information.aspx?TranslationLargeID=34) scheme? I don't know the official URL but all the info is on this site IIRC. Might be a good way to get one if you want a replacement :)

[Treefrog]

AAAAAAARGH!!!!!!! ****ing thieving little bastards! :angry:

So I posted the previous post and then went into Hanley to meet Conor to get him some new trainers. Bike locked up to a cycle stand at 1550 outside a busy bookshop, 50 yards from McDonalds. Finish shopping and get back there at 1745 - big empty space where I'd left the bike. And yes, I'd put the lock through the frame twice and through both wheels as I always do.

According to the Police; because no-one saw it happen the case will be classed as 'closed' unless they receive any information from other sources. Which I assume means that they don't have the resources to investigate things like this :(

That bike has seen me through five years and over 3,000 miles. I've weaved through stationary traffic, beat cars into town on a Saturday morning, stopped with the back wheel a foot off the deck on more than one occasion due to people wandering/pulling out in front of me, trekked the 15 miles over to my parents on a weekly basis in the months before my Dad died in June, been over the bars and into trees when getting over-confident on single tracks as well as sliding off at around 25mph on a roundabout - lots of fun memories. It's got a lovely light and stiff frame and goes round corners like it's on rails and goes exactly where you point it. That bike was like your first proper bike all over again.

I am so ****ing pissed off right now. If I get my hands on the little toerag in the next 24 hours I'm likely to start breaking non-vital bits of him. Or them.

As the Police are unwilling to investigate this I guess it's up to me again. Hanley is supposedly covered by CCTV - anyone know how to get in touch with the camera operators to see if they can help? Dym?
And the staff in the shop it was outside may have seen something, they may even have a camera pointed in that direction. I can hope. And the chap who owns the scooter it was parked next to can tell me if it was still there when he unlocked his scooter and narrow down the time during which it was taken. And print up some more flyers with pics and details and go round all the second-hand shops and cycle shops in the area and hand them out. And stand around in Hanley and ask passers-by if they remember seeing anything, see if I can pick up any info while it may be fresh in peoples' minds.

Wish me luck.

[Belmit]

Best of luck dude, hope something comes of it. Sucks. :(

[SidewinderINC]

Thats so lame, and after posting that too. I guess it goes to show that no matter how careful you are it still happens.


An idea - It'll cost a little but revenge will be sweet.

Go to your local tip/recycling center and buy a bike that looks like somebody would want to nick it and then set up somebody to watch it and plant it for them to take.

Get them in the act, break them.

/keyboard warrior.

[Treefrog]

Hope you find the ******** Jim.
Me too :evil:

After I got my last bike back - the dickhead had used his letter from the Magistrates Court as ID when he sold it to the s/h shop - I was a good boy and gave the info to the Police. AFAIK it didn't even go to court in spite of what appeared to be an open and shut case.

As they're so overworked, underfunded and understaffed, surely it would be my civic duty not to burden them with such a trivial matter?

;)

[Admiral Huddy]

Jim I feel like if jinxed you :(

[Dymetrie]

Hanley is supposedly covered by CCTV - anyone know how to get in touch with the camera operators to see if they can help? Dym?

It's going to depend on who operates the CCTV (ie: Police or Council) as to who you approach and how.

If it's the Police then talk to the same officer(s) you spoke to regarding the incident and ask them to speak to their CCTV office to get them to check the CCTV for the time/date and location.

If it's the Council then It'll probably be someone in Street Environment (or somesuch) that you'll need to speak to, however (and this is important) they will most likely require that any requests are made by the Police.

You'll not get to see any of the footage due to the Data Protection Act, but it's entirely possible that the Police may be able to get an ID and then charge the miscreant.

It'll definitely feel like an uphill struggle as the Council will be very wary to assist you due to DPA and the Police will be unwilling to assist as it will mean more paperwork/time for them.

Sucks doesn't it? :(

[Treefrog]

Jim I feel like if jinxed you :(
Hehe - I blame you too ;D I just found out that a friend of Tabitha's had her MTB stolen from outside the college - locked to a lamppost outside a glass walled corridor and the main reception area. The college CCTV caught him in the act with a pair of bolt crops, but no-one recognises him. I'm wondering if it's more than coincidence, possibly someone - or more than one - after a little extra Christmas money?
It's going to depend on who operates the CCTV (ie: Police or Council) as to who you approach and how.

If it's the Police then talk to the same officer(s) you spoke to regarding the incident and ask them to speak to their CCTV office to get them to check the CCTV for the time/date and location.

If it's the Council then It'll probably be someone in Street Environment (or somesuch) that you'll need to speak to, however (and this is important) they will most likely require that any requests are made by the Police.

You'll not get to see any of the footage due to the Data Protection Act, but it's entirely possible that the Police may be able to get an ID and then charge the miscreant.

It'll definitely feel like an uphill struggle as the Council will be very wary to assist you due to DPA and the Police will be unwilling to assist as it will mean more paperwork/time for them.

Sucks doesn't it? :(

Been a slightly productive day today: I spoke to the lass on the till directly inside the shop that the bike was locked outside of, she put me onto one CCTV company. Unfortunately they only cover the Potteries Shopping Centre at the other end of that street. Their security then gave me a wrong number for City Centre Management :rolleyes: so I nipped into the council office and used their free internal phone to get onto Parking & Security who operate the CCTV and got the name and address of the person to whom I have to submit a 'personal request' in writing. I then went to the Police station to ask if they had requested that the footage from the relevant time be looked at, and if not, would they please do so :D

Then, at around 1700 I went back to where I'd left the bike yesterday to see if the owner of an orange scooter was finishing work around then and a helpful chap in leathers told me he worked in Webberley's (the shop) and gave me his name. He told me that my bike wasn't there when he left work at 1730 which narrows the time down - by about 15 mins lol. He also mentioned that he'd been in the end of the shop nearest to the parking place yesterday, and he and a colleague had noticed a 'gang' outside the shop at around 1700. Unfortunately it was her day off today :/

Plan for tomorrow:
Go and have a chat to the lass in Webberleys and see if she can add anything to the little I know,
Deliver letter to CCTV people asking that the film from that time be looked at,
Go and ask the Police if there's anything to report yet.

Cheers for that Dym, much appreciated :)
I'm just printing out the DPA atm as a bit of bedtime reading - it can't hurt.